Item 2017.027 - Knights Templar Frock Coat

2017.027

Knights Templar Frock Coat

Item

1

Black wool facecloth double breasted frock coat with stand collar. It features small goldwork embroidered crosses with red wool interiors on each collar and two larger crosses of the same design on each cuff. These crosses are the badges for a Sir Knight rank. It has two rows of seven wool shank buttons down the front with two rows of matching button holes - damage to the wool covering of the buttons, especially on the right side. Three smaller wool shank buttons on each cuff with two buttons at the centre waist on the back above the tail pleats and two at the bottom of the pleats. It is lined in black cotton sateen. There is a vertical pocket in the left chest lining (with stitching evidence of a missing tailors label) and two pockets in the coat tails (lined in chintz cotton).
Country of Design: United States
Country of Manufacture: United States
Keywords: Ceremonial uniform, dress uniform

Materials: Wool, cotton
Details: Goldwork embroidery, stand collar, double breasted
Condition: November 2023 - fraying to the silk coverings of several of the buttons, button to the top left chest detached due to broken stitching.

The Knights Templar (The United Religious, Military and Masonic Orders of the Temple and of St John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes and Malta) is a fraternal order affiliated with Freemasonry. The height of American fraternalism was 1870-1920. The Knights Templar black frock coat uniform from this period were patterned after American Civil War uniforms and included distinctive plumed bicorn hats (called chapeau). The double breasted frock coat with crosses on the sleeve (each different for members, officers, Grand officers, and Grand Encampment officers) is called a dress coat.